Employees come in all personality types, and this can have an impact on how quickly and efficiently a project is completed. A rare few employees are able to set independent deadlines and break down large projects into manageable goals. More commonly, employees need milestones for which to aim. Giving workers a deadline to achieve a set goal can help everyone on the team stay on track and will enable your small business to pull together a large project with less stress for everyone on the team.

Manageable Phases

Break a project into manageable stages and give each stage a mini-deadline. Look at the major steps to complete the project, such as research, writing reports, creating audio/visual materials for a presentation and practicing speeches. The major benefit of breaking a large project into smaller phases is that employees will feel less overwhelmed and be able to focus on more manageable goals.

Sense of Accomplishment

An employee who completes a phase of the project successfully and on time will have a sense of accomplishment. Praise employees who turn in their parts of the project by deadline to increase feelings of self-worth. Consider offering bonuses such as gift cards or a casual dress day when workers come together to meet deadlines.

Catching Mistakes Early

When workers meet deadlines, management has more time to notice any mistakes and fix them before the project is complete. It is much easier to fix a problem in the beginning of a project than to go back and fix every step of a project from the first phase onward.

Marketing

If the project involves a product launch date or service that will be offered, knowing the date the project will be completed helps with marketing efforts. A team that works together and is able to meet deadlines affords some assurance to management that advertising efforts won't be wasted when a project isn't completed in time. Instead, management knows it can promote the finished project and it will be available for the customer.

Avoid Too Many Goals

Setting deadlines and specified items that need to be completed keeps the project on target and focused. If there is no deadline, projects have a tendency to drag on. People working on the project tend to generate new ideas and each worker wants to add elements to the project. While these new features might be beneficial, they can build upon one another until the project is out of hand. Deadlines help keep workers focused and avoid feature buildup.

About the Author

Lori Soard has been a writer since 1995, covering a variety of topics for local newspapers and magazines such as "Woman's World." For five years, she served as a site editor for a large online information portal. Soard is also the author of several published books, both fiction and nonfiction.